Legacy
by LifeLikeYew4
Summary: Twenty-five years after the fourth ninja war, Naruto's son Jiraiya enters the ninja world on his own three man genin team. With the newly restored Uchiha clan looming in the cliche darkness, this shinobi world may not remain peaceful for long.


I do not own Naruto. Please don't rip my face off with lawsuits. :)

Legacy

Jiraiya stood atop the hokage tower gazing at the recently finished hokage monument. It was almost like looking in a mirror. As his face tensed into a massive grin he felt a tremor. Right before his eyes his face, and his face alone, crumbled and collapsed into the unsuspecting village. All around him the village's buildings were decimated until to his despair the tower beneath him rippled like a puddle. His stomach lurched as the floor collapsed and he fell hundreds of feet towards the ground. In his final moments all he heard were the screams of angry women cursing his name, or was it _woman?_ He hit the ground and his vision snapped to the vivid picture of reality. After brushing his spiky dark blue hair away from his eyes he saw none other than his loud, annoying, redheaded, 15-year-old sister Shizuka. Much to his dismay Jiraiya did_ not_ find himself in his warm, comfortable, large bed…. But rather, on the cold hard ground.

"If you don't hurry up and eat breakfast I won't be able to see dad before leaving for my mission today." Shizuka said, crossing her arms – clearly agitated.

This arm motion caught Jiraiya's eye, and in turn revealed that his older sister was wearing her chuunin vest and ninja equipment. To Jiraiya this meant one of two things, she either just got back from a mission, or it was a _weekday. _He scanned the room, desperately wishing that it not be a Monday. The room was simple, upon entering the door there was a long desk on the left and his bed on the right. This "bed" was currently just a bed frame, surrounded by pillows blankets and an overturned mattress leaning against the wall. To his not-so-trained eye it would appear that his shinobi sister had chosen throwing the mattress and everything on it spinning through the air as the preferred method of waking him up. Jiraiya looked at the digital alarm clock sitting on his desk which clearly displayed 7:19 AM. Next the calendar hanging above said desk, and his heart sank. The last date that had been crossed off was in fact a Sunday.

"Wait, did you say that Dad's back.?" Jiraiya asked looking into his sister's only visible stark-white eye.

The teenage girl sighed and closed the eye not covered by her bright red bangs before saying "Well he is _supposed_ to arrive this morning, but if we don't catch him before he gets to the Hokage's office then I won't get to see him at all – I'm leaving the village for a mission today - and Mom won't let me go see him unless I take you with me. So HURRY UP." with this the girl turned swiftly, her read ponytail flailing behind her, and marched out of the room. The now wide awake Jiraiya rushed to pull on a pair of orange pants. He then fished through the stack of freshly washed and folded clothes on his desk until finding a black T-shirt with a red swirl logo on the back. He charged out his door, down the hall, and down a flight of stairs, all the while pulling on this black shirt. Upon arriving in the kitchen Jiraiya found a freshly poured bowl of cereal waiting for him and his mother standing nearby. She had the same dark purple hair as Jiraiya had, though hers was not spiky, and the same stark white eyes as Shizuka. She was wearing a faded lavender sun dress. Jiraiya picked up the bowl leaving the spoon behind, and tipped the whole bowl right into his mouth swallowing it all. Putting the bowl down he headed towards the door and as he was putting on his sandals his mother followed and said in a calm, high pitched voice

"Don't forget your backpack Jiraiya, you will have to head straight to the academy afterward, and good luck on your mission Shizuka, stay safe."

With that the two siblings walked out the door. Hinata had considered coming along as well, but as a mostly retired stay at home mom she had time to wait for her husband to return, and the time would be better spent around the house. Plus if she finished her chores soon enough they might just go out today. As she closed the front door she just hoped they wouldn't be eating ramen.

Jiraiya followed close behind his sister. The hot-headed konoichi wore typical Konoha chuunin attire, a chuunin flak jacket with a large black long sleeved shirt underneath, and a simple pair of black combat pants. Her hands were wrapped in bandages, common among medics and taijutsu specialists of which she was both. Her haircut however was not typical, no typical ninja would cover up one of her eyes like that, and Jiraiya wondered if it annoyed her, or if she even noticed it while using the Byagugan. As he speculated the two siblings came out onto one of Konoha's main roads between the hokage tower and the west gate. If their father was heading to the tower by ground this was the road he would use. Sure enough walking toward them were three proud looking shinobi. On the left was an incredibly pale looking man dressed in all black with a massive scroll on his back, much wider than any summoning contract. On the right was a pink haired konoichi in a Jonin medic uniform and wearing her headband in her hair like a ribbon who was undoubtedly the uncontested medical ninjutsu master Sakura. And in the middle was a tall man in Jonin attire with a long short sleeved red cloak over top, long black sleeves continuing past where the cloak stops, a large summoning contract scroll on his back and spiky yellow hair that was short and well kept in the front but brought into a long spiky ponytail in the back. The man was the proudest of the three and known by many titles, hero of the fourth war, toad sage, Konoha's demon, the nine tailed jinchuurichi, Orange Flash the Kyuubi's jailer, Sixth Hokage, and Uzumaki Naruto. However, to Jiraiya and Shizuka he was just "Dad."

Naruto often forgot in moments like this that his little kids were in fact powerful young shinobi. So when the two barely 120 pound siblings knocked him off his feet and sent him sprawling in the dirt he couldn't help but yell. It had been several weeks since he had last seen Shizuka and Jiraiya though, so he had no quarrels with delaying his report to see the kids. Once the kids had gathered themselves from their rather violent hug they wasted no time in bombarding their father with questions.

"How was your mission?" Jiraiya asked

"Was it successful?" Shizuka followed

"What's Suna like?"

"Did you fight any shinobi?"

"Are Suna ninja as strong as Konoha ones?"

"Did you see the Kazekage?"

"Is the Kazegage as strong as you or Konohamaru-sama?"

As Naruto picked himself up off the ground Sakura started to laugh and Sai quickly mimicked her. Ignoring his team mates, Naruto cut the two kids off by answering their questions vaguely.

"My mission was fine, yes it was successful, Suna is hot, yes I did, yes their ninja are just as strong, yes I saw Gaara, and in some ways the Kazekage is stronger than both of us. Shouldn't you be headed to school Jiraiya?"

"That's it? You're not going to tell us what happened?" Shizuka asked.

"Our mission is classified at least until after we see the Hokage, sorry." Sakura answered.

At this Shizuka frowned and opened her mouth to protest but she was cut off when a brown haired Chuunin leapt down from a nearby building and quickly bowed to Naruto and his team. This Chuunin then turned toward Shizuka and said "everyone else is ready to leave Shizuka, we're just waiting on you."

With this Shizuka hugged Naruto once again saying a simple "I love you and I'll see you soon, bye." The teenager leapt away looking clearly disappointed.

Jiraiya checked his watch to see that it was already 7:43, his first class would start in about fifteen minutes. This was also about the amount of time it would take him to get there if he ran. Naruto noticed this and simply said "have fun at school Jiraiya, now you should get going because you don't want to be late to Iruka's class." Naruto gave a rather nostalgic chuckle causing Sai to give a rather perplexed look.

As Jiraiya took off towards the academy Sakura turned toward Naruto and said "You're so lucky to have such sweet kids Naruto, I hope you don't rub off on them." The three legends laughed and continued towards the Hokage's office.

Jiraiya had made it to school on time, but everyone else had gotten there early to practice for the extremely important genin exams today. All over the playground his classmates were studying, performing low level jutsu, throwing shuriken at logs, and practicing taijutsu with one another. With about five minutes to spare he noticed Natsuki sparring with several kids in a kind of winner stays style tournament. She had long, light blue hair down her back, kept out of her face by a ribbon. She had warm brown eyes and was wearing a blue T-shirt with a pair of tan shorts that were just long enough for her kunai holsters to be in the right place halfway down her thighs. The number one rookie was Jiraiya's only real competition in the class, though he only got average grades. Jiraiya had always struggled with the academy jutsu, his father said it was because he had a hard time limiting how much chakra he put into the jutsu. This combined with Jiraiya's average intellect had been the only thing between him and the title of number one rookie. Natsuki however had no trouble with the academy level jutsu and she was undoubtedly the smartest of their class. She alone had pushed Jiraiya to practice anything other than ninjutsu. He was convinced that he could surpass her without the need of those useless academy level jutsu. After all he had mastered the number one go to jutsu of the sixth and seventh hokage: Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Not even Iruka sensei could match his skill with the technique, let alone anyone in his class.

Jiraiya marched up to the circle of wide eyed kids watching the sparing. As soon as the small green haired boy found himself knocked into the wall of students Jiraiya charged in. Jiraiya's blue eyes met with Natsuki's brown ones. Before she could say a word he launched at her aiming his right fist for her face. Natsuki swatted the punch away with the back of her left hand and aimed her own right fist for him. Jiraiya saw it coming and ducked beneath the punch while sweeping his leg out to take her off her feet. The number one rookie jumped into a back flip, nimbly avoiding the kick. Jiraiya extended his balancing leg, sending him soaring towards her with his left leg aimed for center mass. She rolled to her left to dodge the kick and darted for him as he recovered from the failed attack. Jiraiya was on the defensive now, blocking every punch as expertly as Natsuki slung them. They kept this up for nearly a minute before one of Natsuki's punches slipped past his guard. It would have hit him square in the chest but he turned so it grazed his left shoulder and brought his right knee into her side. The number one rookie flinched back from the hit and the crowd of previously silent students cheered. Natsuki's eyes narrowed and she returned with a flurry of powerful kicks. Jiraiya found himself forced to dodge every single one. They were far too strong and backed by too much momentum for him to block them, and they were so well timed that he couldn't strike without another kick on its way to destroy him. In a real battle in an open space he would leap back and throw kunai, but that wasn't an option. Natsuki was spinning and flipping constantly, switching between hand stands and balancing on one leg. She couldn't really see what Jiraiya was doing, but she could tell where he was, and unless he drew a knife or used a jutsu she was in no danger. She couldn't keep this up forever though, she was gaining too much momentum and pretty soon she wouldn't be able to keep up with her own rotations, and she was terribly dizzy. No one had managed to evade her for this long before. Likewise Jiraiya was slowly being caught, as Natsuki gained momentum she became a blur. It wasn't long before she grazed his shin with a low sweeping kick. This caused Jiraiya to start stumbling, and he would have been hit too if not for the school bell ringing. Natsuki slowed down until she was stumbling awkwardly toward the school building, and Jiraiya silently cursed. She couldn't keep that up forever. They were _both _saved by the bell.

Jiraiya followed after Natsuki to their class room where he sat at his desk in the front row. While Jiraiya did not normally speak much his actions tended to be as loud and boisterous as his fathers. He was by no means shy like his mother had been as a genin, but he barely spoke more than her. He carried himself proudly and never stuttered. It was not for lack of courage or ability that he remained quiet, but out of choice. Sitting in the front row was natural for him. He always gave the teacher his full attention and all the respect they deserved. He rarely answered questions though. The teacher would have to directly address him to get his participation.

Iruka got up from the teachers desk with a stack of blank tests. These tests would determine who among the class of thirty would have to attend another year at the academy. Iruka knew that even if they passed the genin exams with flying colors, two thirds of the class would be returning anyway. Many of the genin did not know this though, and it didn't matter if they did. In fact maybe those kids were better off because they would be more motivated to pass these exams.

"All right, the genin exams will consist of 4 parts. The first and most important is this test. It consists of 50 questions that have to deal with various parts of the academy curriculum from the past few years. It holds the most weight and covers everything from survival to history to mathematics. The second part will be shuriken and kunai throwing. This holds the least weight of the four parts and will involve hitting stationary targets from several ranges. The third part will be the jutsu portion. You will be asked to perform the substitution, transformation, and clone jutsu. Finally will be the Taijutsu portion which holds equal weight as the jutsu portion. This will consist of a sparring competition between you and you classmates. Myself and other instructors will observe and grade you on the skills you show. I wish you all the best and hope that you all pass." Iruka said.

With that the middle aged chuunin passed out the tests and the students began working frantically. As Jiraiya took the test he wished he had spent more time studying and less time practicing his other ninja skills especially if this was the most important part of the exam. As he found himself on the last page most of the other students were already turning theirs in. Jiraiya kept calm though and took his time on finishing his test. He finished and turned it in with less than ten minutes to spare. Then he sat patiently calming his mind and preparing for his upcoming tests. As the clock struck nine Iruka collected the few remaining tests and led the class out into the training yard. Here there were several boxes full of kunai and shuriken and four stumps with red and white targets. The students were instructed to pick out three kunai and three shuriken. The students eagerly started picking through the weapons trying to find the ones in the best condition. If you had bad projectiles the test would be much more difficult.

Iruka then explained the second test "two by two the students will come up to these logs. First you will be expected to throw all three shuriken from ten meters and hit this target with as many as you can. Next, you will come to the second log and throw three kunai, one from five meters, one from ten, and one from 15 meters."

After they had received Iruka's instructions the students formed two lines. Jiraiya was fortunate enough to end up near the front of his line. Jiraiya watched as the students attempted to hit the logs. Most of the kids managed to get two shuriken to hit, and got the five and ten meter kunai throws. No one had made the fifteen meter kunai throw hit the target until it was Natsuki's turn. She stepped up to the shuriken log, pulled out her three shuriken and double checked they were positioned right in the gaps between her fingers. She drew her arm across her body and rabidly made a backhanded motion, releasing the shuriken at the perfect moment. The three metal stars were blurs of grey as they soared for their target. They were thrown with such force that they seemed arcless, like they were flying perfectly straight. All three struck the foot wide target. It was an impressive feat, but not unheard of. She would have to connect with all three kunai to shock anyone. Next she walked to the kunai log and stood at the closest five meter line. Her first kunai struck the bull's-eye perfectly. She drew a second kunai and backed up to the ten meter line. She brought her right arm across her body and used the same swift, backhanded motion as before to throw the kunai. The second kunai hit the target directly above the first. Jiraiya's heart sank, if she made this last throw he wouldn't be able to make up for lost ground on this portion of the exam, and there was no way he could do it with ninjutsu. He would have to be the absolute best at taijutsu. It was one of his greatest assets so he doubted anyone but Natsuki could beat him anyway.

Natsuki backed up to the third line, all of her focus was on the target. She held her kunai loosely in her right hand, and brought that hand up to her left shoulder. She swung her arm across her body with as much speed as she could muster, and released the kunai a third of the way through the path. The kunai darted straight for the target and connected to the bottom right of the bull's-eye. This only increased Jiraiya's determination however.

He had been so focused on Natsuki's performance that he failed to notice it was his turn until the green haired boy behind him poked Jiraiya. At first Jiraiya looked back at the boy but when he saw the small boy pointing past him he realized that it was his turn and stepped up to the line. Just as Natsuki had Jiraiya brought his hand with all three shuriken across his body and flung them for the bulls-eye. The first struck the center almost perfectly, but the other two barely hit the target to the bottom left and right of the bull's-eye. Jiraiya did a quick fist pump and rushed to the other log. He drew the worst of the three kunai and spun it around his finger twice by the ring before grabbing the handle and swiftly throwing it at the target. The kunai hit its mark just below the bulls-eye. Jiraiya wanted to save that spot for last. Jiraiya leapt backward to the second line, already drawing his second kunai. No more than a second after landing he threw the second kunai. The kunai flew straight as an arrow and hit the target just above the bulls-eye this time. Natsuki smirked, if he couldn't even hit the bulls-eye on the first throw there was no way he could hit the target from 15 meters. Jiraiya backed up to the third line, taking his time with this one. He tested the weight of the kunai in his hand, closed one eye for a better look at the target, and made some practice swings without letting go of the kunai. When he was ready he brought the kunai up to his left shoulder and swung as fast as he could, releasing at the perfect moment. The kunai seemed to fly in slow motion as it approached the target, and with a loud, rewarding thud the kunai nailed the target directly in the center. Jiraiya almost jumped, and Natsuki's jaw dropped ever so slightly. Jiraiya walked forward and pried the projectiles from the wooden targets, and as he walked back his eyes met with the cold glare of Natsuki's light brown eyes. It almost made Jiraiya feel bad for out doing her, but he had to beat her. There was no doubt in his mind that his father had been number one rookie of his class. Naruto was far more powerful than his classmates were, and Jiraiya was determined to outshine him. If he couldn't even make number one rookie in his class how would he become the eighth hokage?

Jiraiya walked over to the crowd of students who had already finished and watched the remaining students throw the weapons. Jiraiya noticed that the green haired boy did particularly poor. Only two of his shuriken hit the target, and he couldn't even make the ten meter kunai throw. It appeared that he didn't have enough strength to make the kunai fly straight. His horizontal alignment was near perfect however, even better than Jiraiya or Natsuki's. If he was stronger he would be deadly accurate.

Iruka watched the students perform the accuracy test and periodically wrote down scores on a class roster that he had on a clipboard. As he watched Jiraiya perform the test he felt guilty that he had to give the young shinobi average grades. Any half decent teacher could tell that he was in fact one of the top three shinobi in the class. But he simply couldn't change the age old exam just to do this one student justice, even if that student was the son of Konoha's greatest hero. At least he was passing with average grades unlike Naruto did. Maybe it was better for him this way, this way he would be paired with one other powerful shinobi on his team. Jiraiya's barely average test scores and inability to perform low level jutsu could save his life one day. Iruka was hardly surprised when Jiraiya hit the target with his third kunai. He was happy to put that score down however.

After Jiraiya came the small green haired boy Kenichi. He wore white shorts and a small long sleeved shirt with a red leaf insignia on the front. Iruka sympathized with the boy. The fun loving boy was incredibly smart, and had great chakra control, but he had too little stamina to create any affective gen or nin jutsu, and was too weak for taijutsu. Iruka wouldn't be surprised if the boy couldn't even get the third kunai anywhere near the log. The boy came from a family of doctors who worked only in the hospital. The boy was determined however to become a medic-nin for some reason. The boy was dead last, and the only way he could pass the genin exam would be if he got a perfect on the written test and manages to get at least a passing grade in the other portions. The boy threw his three shuriken and two sailed right into the middle of the target, but the third hit the log just below the target with a deep thud. The boy would only have to hit the kunai target once to pass. Kenichi managed to hit the target on his first throw and Iruka silently cheered. Kenichi proceeded to miss on his next two throws, but he had passed, and that's all he needed. Now he only had to pass the two harder tests.

Iruka led the class back inside and had everyone sit back in their seats. As Jiraiya sat down in his desk he started to get nervous. He sat thinking about the jutsu test and panicking. Meanwhile Iruka started to give instructions for the test which Jiraiya missed completely. Jiraiya was suddenly startled back into reality by the pop and explosion of smoke caused by the first student performing Substitution Jutsu. Jiraiya scolded himself for not paying attention to Iruka's directions and tried to discern what he may have said by watching the other students. It appeared as if he was supposed to transform into Iruka sensei first. Then perform Substitution Jutsu, and finally Clone Jutsu.

Jaraiya's name was called. He stood up and walked to the front of the room. First was transformation. He got a good long look at Iruka sensei. He turned to face the class, made the hand seal, focused his chakra, and began molding it for transformation. He closed his eyes, trying to hold his chakra back. If he overloaded the jutsu there would not be a good outcome. He felt the right amount, the amount he used in past successful transformations and he felt a surge of courage. He was about to perform the jutsu when this surge of courage came with chakra. Then he heard it.

To the rest of the class it was just a pop, but to Jiraiya it was an explosion. All he saw was blinding white.

When the stark white smoke cleared the class saw a rather pudgy Iruka standing there looking very nervous. In fact pudgy was an understatement. The second Iruka was obese.

Jiraiya looked down at himself in horror, he was massive. He looked over at Iruka who just looked disappointed. Then to the class where he saw Natsuki laughing along with several other students. Jiraiya released the jutsu and began focusing for substitution.

When Natsuki saw the hurt look in Jiraiya's eyes she quit laughing immediately. He may be her greatest rival but she did not hate him. In fact she rather liked the soft spoken, proud boy. She felt guilty as he began gathering his chakra for substitution. 'I would be hurt if he laughed at me. Why did I go and do that?' she thought to herself. 'And I got everyone else to start laughing too.' The more she thought the worse she felt, and she almost missed Jiraiya's substitution.

Jiraiya closed his eyes and focused his chakra, pictured the log he would use as his substitution, and as the laughter died he performed the jutsu. There was far less of an explosion this time, but to his dismay when the smoke cleared Jiraiya found himself in the same place he had been. He looked up to see Natsuki was not laughing this time, instead she looked more impassive or, sad? His brow furrowed as he moved on to clone jutsu, and his nerves washed away as he made the ram hand seal.

Iruka flinched when the normally quiet Jaraiya yelled "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" and a perfect shadow clone appeared next to him.

When Natsuki saw the boy perform the secret jutsu made famous by the two most recent hokage her lips turned up into a big smile.

Jiraiya crossed his arms and smiled toward the class before dispelling the clone and walking back to his seat. At least he had done one of the jutsu right.

XXX

Jiraiya patiently watched another sparring match between two of the larger boys in the class. They were rather strong but their attacks were slow and should be easy to dodge. Not that he would be fighting them any time soon. The Taijutsu test was designed so that each student would go up against another that the teachers felt was close to their level. The more fights there were the more eager Jiraiya became. He had several classmates with a similar skill level in taijutsu, but only one that he really wanted to fight: Natsuki. She had been acting weird ever since the jutsu test. She was probably just jealous of his kage bunshin he thought. Nevertheless he was determined to defeat her in this. If he was going to be number one rookie he would have to wipe the floor with her. After one of the massive boys landed a punch that broke the others nose they stopped the fight and called out the next two names.

"Uzumaki Jiraiya verses Watanabi Natsuki." Iruka called

The two academy students walked into the circle and faced one another.

"um… Jiraiya…" she started but was cut off when Iruka said "Begin!"

Jiraiya launched himself at her aiming his right fist for her face, and Natsuki swatted it away with her left just like before. Jiraiya expected it and had his left fist already on its path, also aimed for her face. She sidestepped to her left to avoid the punch and aimed her left for his side, but he leapt back before she could make contact. She followed after him punching with her right and quickly followed with her left when Jiraiya swatted it away. He also blocked the left punch and took a step back. Natsuki flung a snap kick with her left leg aimed for his chest which he sidestepped quite predictably. She did not expect the next move however, his hand shot out and grabbed her ankle with an iron grip. Before she could counter he turned his body and attempted to toss her out of the circle. She landed on one knee right before the line. If she crossed it she would be docked points. She glared at Jiraiya, it was one thing to spar, but that move was clearly just to sabotage her score. She stood up to strike but he beat her to it, swinging his right leg in a powerful roundhouse kick. She couldn't back up, so she was forced to duck and sweep out his supporting foot. When she swept her left leg out and made contact she let out a satisfied "hm!" Jiraiya was already into a handstand however so he easily recovered and fell into a fighting stance in the middle of the circle. Natsuki yelled and charged for him. She punched with her right which bounced off his left forearm harmlessly. Her left fist was swatted away by Jiraiya's open hand leaving her completely exposed. He aimed his right fist for her nose. Natsuki started to jump away to avoid the punch when her left foot was stomped on by his right, nailing her down in that spot. She couldn't block the punch with her arms so far away, and that punch would crush her nose. The ninja in her just didn't want to be hit, but the preteen girl in her was terrified of the punch ruining the look of her nose permanently. She leaned back just far enough for the punch to sail over her face, and brought her hands back so she was in a bridge. Meanwhile she rose her right leg in an attempt to kick Jiraiya with a powerful uppercut motion. Jaraiya realized too late that she was raising her leg. He jumped way as fast as he could, but her foot nailed him in the stomach hard. He managed to do a back flip and land on his feet; his stomach threatened to vomit though. Natsuki continued with the momentum of her kick, doing a sort of back handspring up to her feet. She brushed her sky blue hair out of her face and fell into a fighting stance. Then Jaraiya hunched over and puked on the ground. There was a chorus of groans and ew's from the crowd of students, as to be expected. Natsuki had covered her mouth and looked shocked. Jiraiya stood up and furrowed his brow at her. He expected her to cheer at the hit. This was the last thing he expected her to do.

Natsuki cursed herself 'Why do I always mess things up? I hope he's okay… he probably hates me… I wish Iruka sensei had given me time to apologize to him before starting.' Her thoughts were cut off when Jiriaya started toward her, but he was stopped by Iruka's voice.

"That's enough, I'm sure the examiners can judge your skill by that." He said

Jiraiya looked over at the three chuunin with clip boards standing to one side of the circle along with Iruka sensei. They all nodded and smiled to Iruka. The kids had not entered that space despite it being crowded everywhere else around the circle.

"You two are done for the day, you can relax. All right… Sakamoto Kenichi verses Takashita Yusagi."

After Jiraiya and Natsuki's fight they had their last sparring match. Iruka led the students back inside where they waited for about an hour before Iruka returned with results.

"This is a roster with all the graduates listed best to worst. If your name is on this list then first of all, congratulations, and secondly you are to report here at 8:00 tomorrow to get your team assignments. Also if you passed please receive your headband from me at my desk. It has been an honor to teach your class, and I'm certain that you all have the potential to be successful and efficient shinobi. You are dismissed." He said.

Jiraiya rushed to the list that Iruka hung on the chalkboard. He pushed past another student and started scanning the list frantically. His heart dropped.

Kenichi rushed down the aisle between desks and slipped between a few larger students to see the list. He practically jumped for joy when he saw his name.

Natsuki cursed herself for not getting to the list sooner, she was pushing her way through the pack of disappointed and excited students when she saw Jiraiya solemnly pushing his way out of the crowd. She reached the paper and looked at the top spot on the paper. She shouted out in excitement as she read her own name, but when she looked at the spot below her she didn't see Jiraiya's name.

Natsuki started desperately scanning the list of 28 names for Jiraiya's, but she just couldn't seem to find it.


End file.
